"Hey, Pacifica!" a voice behind her said, the tone carrying a sharp undercurrent like a hidden knife.
Still, she stopped and turned around, narrowing her eyes at the girl she used to hang out with - not ever describable as a friend, but...someone who used to be more amenable than she was now.
"What do you want, Thelma?"
The girl stood with a wide stance and her hands on her hips, smirking at her. "Saw you and that nerd together again yesterday. Table all to yourselves, there in the diner."
"...Dipper? What's it to you?" she said defensively.
"Oh, nothing..." Thelma inspected her nails, "...just can't believe you're actually indulging that pathetic crush he has on you."
Pacifica bristled. Nobody would have ever dared to speak to her like that back when she had the wealth and prestige of the Northwest family behind her. She didn't care that people like Thelma and Ingrid had turned on her and refused to give her any help, but the sense that she deserved respect was hard to shake after a childhood of seeing yourself as better than anyone else.
"Remind me again how that little school production you were in went? Oh, that's right, you tripped on your dress and fell off the stage on opening night. So graceful of you," she drawled. It was an easy target to go for, but hell if she wasn't up for taking it anyway.
Thelma moved more quickly than Pacifica could react to. Suddenly she was in her personal space, yanking her designer jacket open, where an unassuming badge sat on her shirt declaring "Hello! My name is PACIFICA". She held a tight grip on the silk fabric, her eyes so close and full of poison that it scared Pacifica a little. "Don't you dare try to insult me when you're the one working a shitty supermarket job in every free moment you have because you're no longer the precious little princess who gets everything she wants from her parents."
She let go of Pacifica roughly, breaking eye contact as she looked over Pacifica's shoulder for a moment. She turned back with a glare.
"I hope he pays you well. All that time you spend making yourself look better deserves at least eight dollars an hour. Skank."
Her face burning with shame, rage blinded Pacifica to reason. Her hands clenched into fists. It didn't matter that they were in the middle of this busy mall, she was not going to be spoken to like that, ever. "I don't care about him or you, or what anyone thinks of me!" she shouted. "You think he's a worthless human being? Then look at how much worse you are! You're not worth what I can find on the bottom of my shoes, Thelma!"
Thelma flicked her hair back and smiled wide. Confusion tainted Pacifica's anger until she said, "Glad he gets to be reminded of the kind of person you really are." She laughed and walked away from her.
"What...?" she said quietly.
"Pacifica?"
Pacifica spun around. There stood Dipper, in all his shaggy-haired, unshaven-faced, broken-hearted-expression'd glory. Oh shit.
"Dipper!" He shook his head and started to turn away. "Dipper, wait!" She grabbed his arm desperately and felt him jolt at her touch.
"Pacifica, I can't deal with this right now, just...let me go," he said. The hollowness of his voice made her feel like her heart was cracking.
"No, no, you don't understand, I was just -"
"Yes, I do," he said, abruptly forceful. "You had some bad things said about you, and you lashed out so some insignificant random girl would think more highly of you at the expense of someone who... Fuck, Pacifica..." He refused to look at her, his face scrunching up like he was trying not to cry.
No, no, no, no, no, this couldn't be happening, she couldn't be ruining things this badly, she needed to - "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Dipper, please believe me, I really do care about you. I didn't mean anything I said about you!" Her fingernails dug into his skin as she held on tighter.
"Anything you said when we're not alone, I assume you mean. Look, I get it, you want to present yourself a certain way to the world because of your upbringing, you say things and do things you would never do in privacy. I don't need to be a detective or a mystery hunter to see that."
"I..."
"Doesn't mean I have the ability to deal with that." He took in a steeling breath and faced her. "You're not used to what it's like for everyone to shun you and how you live your life. I am. I moved on from it and I can't go back to feeling like I'm someone people need to avoid, to turn on, isolate..." Dipper's head dropped down and he sighed.
Pacifica's hands went up to cup his face, the beginnings of a beard scratching her palms. His cheeks were warm, and Pacifica wished this was something she had taken the step to do before...this. This wasn't how she wanted to cross the barrier of friendship into something more.
Still, she was reassured slightly when one of Dipper's hands came up and laid on top of her own, and his deep brown eyes shifted from the floor towards her.
"I'm not ashamed of you, Dipper. Or of Mabel..." She remembered back to the start of the summer when they got served by her at the supermarket. Every clipped phrase and standoffish action she gave them was returned by enthusiasm and support from Mabel, incredibly managing to make her smile in what she saw as the most humiliating position she could be found in. Everyone else either mocked her or ignored her if they saw her in there. She thought that they must have seen that and that was why she and the Pines had become closer friends than any other summer they were here. And she never would forget how Dipper helped give her the courage to take that first act of defiance against her parents, all those years ago. "I don't ever want you to feel like I am. You've done more for me than anyone else."
Dipper nodded, but his features were still taut, mouth in a hard line and a tension in his expression.
Pacifica overcame her apprehension and pulled him down, kissing him. Their lips stayed pressed together for a few moments before Dipper wrapped her arms around her and pulled her close to him. Pacifica didn't even think of who might see them there, a relationship now brazenly out in the open, she just kept her eyes shut and enjoyed how much her spirits soared with Dipper pressed against her.
They separated, both of them breathing a little more heavily than usual. Pacifica's hands moved from his cheeks to his hair. Her face broke into a smile and she said, "You need to shave. And comb your hair."
Dipper gave her an adorably offended expression. "Seriously? You think it's okay to insult me again already?"
"For our date. Can't have my boyfriend looking so scruffy in a fine dining establishment."
His eyes brightened and he gave her a half-smile. "Oh. Right. That's okay, then. 'Boyfriend' - I can work with that."